Improved machine tor making wire ferrules



tlnitrd ttrt @sind Gtjillte.

HENRY o. LoTHnoR-or YMILFonD, MASSACHUSETTS.

Letters Patent No. 95,918, dated ctober 19, 1869.

IMPROVED .MACHINE FOR MAKING WIRE FERR'ULES.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters'Patent and making part of thesame To all to whom these presents'shall come and Figure 5, a verticaland transverse section of a machine embodying one portion of myinvention'.

Figure 6 is a representation of a ferrule embodying the. latter portionof my invent-ion.

The inventions which constitute the subject-matter of this patent,relatel First, to an improved manumcture of coiled-wire tubing forfeirules, by forming an offset in each coil, in such manner that eachend of the individual ferrule, when cnt from the cylinder, shall presenta Hush or evenly-finished flat face.

Secondly, the invention relates to the construction of a machine,whereby the cylinder, provided with the oset, as described, shall bemade up from the wire, and the united layers of wire soldered together,as well as to means for cutting from suc'h cylinder a series of ferrulesof equal length, the whole being in manner as hereinafter explained.

The machine I have contrived as one means of forming the above-describedwire cylinder, and as illustrated in the presentinstance, is composed ofa rotary arbor, supported in suitable bearings, and provided with adriving-pulley very much after the manner of the head-stock of a commonlathe, suoli arbor being provided with a tapering mandrel, upon whichthe wire is coiled,.and the cylinder made up, a beater or bunter beingdisposed loosely about the mandrel, and

lhaving intermittent longitudinal movements imparted to it upon suchmandreh'at short intervals, a sliding cutter being arranged immediatelyin front of the mandrel, and operated-in such manner, byinstrumentalities to'be described, as to eut each in regular successionfronl the cylinder formed upon such mandrel, as to project beyondthefree end of the same, a number of-sections or ferrules of asuitablelength to suitthe particular purpose for which they are intended.

In the drawings, before mentioned as accompanying this specification,and which illustrate my. invention,

A 'denotes a flat tablet or table, supported by suitable standards, B l.

Vlongitudinal' and Upon the upper surface of snch table A, I erect twosupports, C C', provided at their upper part with a suitable bearing, Dor D, for supportinga rotary arbor, E, such arbor having mounted upon ita drivingpulley, F, disposed aboutmidway between the supports C 0'; thearbor being still further provided with a face-plate or disk, lGr, fixedto it immediately in rear of its supports (l, the outer face of suchdisk having a wiper-cam, H, formed upon it, as delineated.

The outer end of the arbor E is provided with a .tapering mandrel, I,secured to it in manner asmll readily manifest itself to mechanics, thismandrel beingof such taper as to accommodate itself to the graduallessening of the diameter f the cylinder, con-- sequent upon thereduction of.its temperature, as it accumulates upon the mandrel, itbeing first introduced 'to such mandrel in a heated state.

Were it not for this gradual lessening of the diam-f eter of themandrel, to -correspond with that of the.

cylinder, the latter would contract so tightly about the mandrel as toadhere firmly to it, and render abortive the operation ofthe machine.

A tubular sleeve, a, loosely encompasses a portion of the mandrel immediately tbrward of the support C, such sleeve being supported aboutthe mandrel, and prevented lfrom revolving with it by means of ashipper, b, which surrounds it,.,and is pivoted to its opposite sides,the upper extremity ofthe shipper beingr pivoted to the upper part orbox ofthe arbor-support C, while the lower end of such shipper is givena rear-l ward horizontal'bend, c, which passes through the' supports C,and impinges against the outer face of thedisk G, or its wiper H, beforementioned, asapplied to the disk G, the shipper being maintained incontact with the disk by a spring, d, suitably applied to it.

It will be observed, by referring to the accompany ing drawings, thatthe mandrel l has a longitudinal. andvaxial groove., e, formed in itsface, and from end to end thereof, and it will also be observed that theperiphex-y'ofsuch mandrel is scored with a series of parallel teeth, ff,Sac., such teeth being of about uniform depth until they approach theouter extremity of the mandrel, where they terminate at a short`inclination, leaving the periphery` of the mandrel at this pointintact.

The teeth ff are formed in the shape of saw-teeth, the longer face of'such teeth receding in a `direction reverse to that of the rotation ofsuch mandrel, and they perform an important` olice, to be 4hereinafterexplained; my purpose in leaving the extreme outer portion of theperiphery of the mandrel intact, being to form an even and smooth bedfor the operation of the cutter, as it severs the cylinder at thispoint.

The revolution of the disk G, by means of its wipery H, imparts shortand quick intermittent movements to the appearance of the ferrule,

of the sleeve c, which I term the ubeater, its purpose being to beat upthe coils of wire into a compact body, as they accumulate about themandrel.

The. forward movement of thebeater, in beating up the coils, alsorserves to advance the accumulated coils along the mandrel, while its-retreat leaves room for the introduction of a fresh portion of wire.

By referring to igpl of the drawings, the reader will see that the outerend of the beater a is formed with a slight oset or projection, g, thepurpose of which is to cause a corresponding offset in each concentriccoil of the cylinder, in order that when any one-coil is cut by thecutter of the machine, at the termination of this offset, it shall leavethe section thus cut with a uniformly level face, as shown in tig. 6 ofthe drawings, thus not only adding very much but-being advantageous inother respects.

The wire of which the cylinder is composed, is first to be passedthrough a receptacle containing a suitable soldering-flux, 4and from'thence' conducted into and through a vessel of melted solder, thelatterbeing situated immediately contiguous to the mandrel, in orderthat the soldertaken up and conveyed by it shall remain ina hot andfluid state until the wire'eomes in contact with the last preceding coilabout the mandrel, by this means producing a compact and solid cylinder.

In expeiimenting with my invention, I have experienced much diflicultyin devising a means of insuring against slipping of the cylinder aboutthe mandrel.

rIhe purpose of the saw-teeth will be apparent when I state that the.lessening of the diameter of the cylinder, as it contractsv in cooling,forces the edges of such teeth slightly into the inner surface of thecylinder, and while permittingof its longitudinal movements upon themandrel, prevents any rotation upon the same.

I would here call the readeiis attention to the fact that the extremityofthe wire, in commencing operations with the machine, is to be bent,and inseited within the groove je of the mandrel, by which means thewire is caused to adhere and accumulate about the mandrel until thesoldered portions of such wire are brought in contact with the teeth ofthe mandrel.

The wire, as it is wound upon the mandrel, is necessarily in a state oftension, and, as the cooling takes place at once, it contracts so as tohug closely the tapering mandrel, thus offering all the resistancerequired in order to enable the beater to strike up the offset, forwhich I may say very llittle force is needed.

The cutter for severing the ferrules from the cylinder, at properanddetermined intervals, consists of a sliding cross-head, h, carrying asuitable knife, t', sharp upon its lower edge, the cross-head beingsupported, and its vertical movements guided by means of perpendicularguides or ways, jy', the cutting-edge ofthe knife, when at its highestposition, being disposed above the mandrel, and init's descent reachinga point below such mandrel.

The knife is actuated by a horiz'ontal-oscillati'nglever, K, fulcrumedat about its centre, as shown at I, to the upper part of a support, m,erected upon the table A, and surmounting the arbor and face-plate, andbetween such face-plate and the driving-pulley f, the forwardextremityof the said lever being pivoted to thecross-head h, while itsrear extremity is connected, by means of a rod, a, with a secondhorizontal lever, o, disposed at the lower part of the machineframe, andfrom end to end thereof, the forward and longer arm, 1), of this leverbeing pivoted to a crossbar, q, making part of the standard I, while the.rear and shorter arm, 'r, of such lever, extends a short distance inrear of the standard B', as shown in the drawings.

f are provided,

sizes in its place,

The rear extremity ofthe arbor E is disposed above that of the lever o,and is provided with acrank-wheel, s, such wheel being connected withthe shorter arm fr of the lever o by a connecting-rode, t, in suchmanner that a revolution of the wheel s, by means hereafter stated,shall cause an elevation of the free end of the said lever o, and of theinlrer end of the upper lever Kf'with a corresponding depression of theouter end of such lever, and of the knife fi.

The movements'of the knife i are to be so regulated or controlled as todescend and sever the ferrules after a succession of coils of wire hasaccumulated upon the mandrel; consequently such mandrel must complete anumber of revolutions to one of the crankwheel which actuates the knife,the intermediate mechanism connecting the arbor with such crankwheelbeing susceptible of change or adjustment, in

order to vary the relative number of movements of the knife and mandrel,according to the length of the ferrule to be cut by such knife.

To accomplish the last-mentioned purpose, I mount the crank-wheel sloosely upon the arbor, and between .said crank-wheel and the rearsupport C' of the headstock, I apply a grooved disk or shipping-pulley,u, such pilley'being disposed loosely, and sliding upon the arbor, butcompelled to rotate with it, by means of `an ordinary spline-and-grooveconnection.

Both the shipper-pulley u and the crank-wheel s upon their contiguousfaces, with clutches or stops, c c, and so that upon a close approach toeach other, they shall he locked together, auddescribe a revolution inycompany; wheel, thus'produced, effecting, of course, one cuttingstrokeof the knife, and severinga ferrule from the cylinder upon the mandrel.

The necessary sliding movements of the shipper u are effected bymechanism composed as follows:

A bent and horizontal lever or shipper, w, is pivoted at its bend `tothe top of a post, rising from the table of the machine, and to one sideof the standard or support C', before mentioned, one end of such shipperextending into the groove of the pulley u, while its opposite endextends through made in a lateral upright or frame, z, erectedupon thetable of the machine, and t t one side of the driving-pulley'of thearbrya spring, a',`being applied to such upright, andpiessing upontheinner side of such shipper, and serving to force it against a wiperor cam-grade, b', fixed'to the periphery of a spur-gear, c', suitablyapplied to the outer extremity of the upright, as shown in fig. 5 of theaccompanying drawings.

The gear c' meshes into a second gear, d', the pivot e', of which issupported within an oblique slot, f', made in the upright z, and below.the .orifice y, before mentioned, the last-mentioned gear, in turn,meshing into a pinion, g', supported also upon the upright z, asIrepresented, the said pinion being aixed to or making part of a thirdgear, h', which meshes into a fourth gear, i', fixed to the arbor E ofthe machine, and in close proximity to its driving-pulley. i

The object in supporting the gear d', of the abovementioned train, in anadjustable manner, as explained, is to allow of the introduction ofgears of different for the purpose of varying the relative movements-ofthe knife and mandrel, as before premised. v

A revolution of the arbor E, in the direction of its arrow, causes, ofcourse, a corresponding revolution of the gear t', and a reverserotation 'of the gear h', which, by means of its piniong, effects acounter-revolution of the gear d in' a direction similar to thedriving-gear '11', the said gear d', as will be evident, imparting arotation to the gear c in the direction of its arrow. l

The train of differential gears, as above described, effects sevenrevolutions of the cam-gear c to one the revolution of the crank-y aslot or guide, y, v

- normal position,

revolution of the mandrel; consequently, when seven coils have projectedbeyond the end of the mandrel, the cutter will descend and sever them.

In practice,it will probably be found desirable to increase lthe numberof the coils to twenty or thereabouts, in forming ferrules forpaint-brushes, the principal object of my present invention being toproduce ferrules for this purpose.

The operation ofthe train of gears upon the crankwheel is as follows,premising, as a starting-point, the fact that the wiper b has justreached the free end of the shipper w The revolution of the driving-geari, from this point, forces the wiper b', ofthe gear c', in contact withthe free end of. the shipper u', and, by moving such shipper upon itsfulermn, e'ects a rearward movement of its opposite end, by this meansibrcing the clutch of the pulley lu in contact with that of thecrank-wheel, and imparting a'revolution of t-he latter in consonancewith that of the arbor E, the length of the periphery of the wiperbvbeing such as to maintain theunion of the pulley u 'and the wheel suntil the latter has completed a' revolution, and lowered the knife forthe purpose of severing a ferrule from the coiled tube, when theewiperabruptly terminates, and allows the shipper to be returned (by means ofits spring,r a!) to its thus breaking the 'connect-ion of the pulley andwheel, and allow the latter to revolve independently upon the arbor, thelever o, before mentioned, thus being allowed to fall, by its owngravity, and return the knife to its highest position.

As heretofore constructed, wire ferrules have been manufactured by beingrst coiled about a mandrel, then removed therefrom and held in the handsof a workman While being soldered.

The time consumed in this way adds vastly to the Jams s) expense ofproduction ot' such articles, and in the end does not produce sodesirable an article as can he produced by means of my invention.

Another considerable item of expense by the olli method, is finishingthe ends of the coil of wireA at each endof the ferrule.. The offset,before mentioned, as constituting one feature'of my invention,economizes much labor, and produces a result which cannot, by any means,b'e produced by the old process of manufacturing wire ferrules.

(L'lcw'm-s'.

I claim as my iuvention,and desire to secure by Letters Patent oftheUnited States of America, as follows:

1. The 'conlbinauon of instrumentalities herein described, for making asoldered-wire ferrule, all substantially as set forth.

2. ln coiling mandrels, the combi-nation of a tapering form and groovesfj, with a groove e, all arranged and operating together, in the mannerdescribed.

3. The combination and arrangement of mechanism by which the'arbor andknife are respectively operated at the time and in the manner set forth4. In'combination with the mandrel I, the beater a, formed as described,actuated in any suitable. manner, and operating as explained.

5. As a new manufacture, a ferrule made of coiled and soldered wire,having each fold of the coil formed with an offset, substantially as andfor the purposes set forth.

` HENRY O. LOTHROP.

I lVitxxesses:

FRED. GURTIS, E. GRIFFITH.

